“People go to the stadium because of Jamal Musiala. He is an extraordinary player. Sometimes, you have the feeling gravity doesn’t apply to him.”
That was the praise for the 21-year-old from Bayern Munich president Herbert Hainer as the club announced Musiala had extended his contract until 2030.
It must be a huge relief for the German champions because he was close to entering the final year of his existing deal.
Anything other than an extension might have put Bayern in an incredibly tough spot with Premier League and La Liga clubs keen.
While sources close to the club had indicated negotiations between Bayern and Musiala’s representatives were going well at the end of last year, it still took a while before a final agreement was reached.
Based on his new contract, Musiala will earn £20.8m per year, making him one of the top earners at Bayern, alongside England captain Harry Kane.
The Musiala-Kane partnership is also an important element of the team’s play that has secured them a comfortable lead in the Bundesliga – they are currently eight points clear of Bayer Leverkusen, who they visit at the BayArena on Saturday.
Friday’s announcement might very well lift Bayern’s spirits even higher going into the top-of-the-table encounter. Manager Vincent Kompany and director of sport Max Eberl are determined to build the squad around Musiala, a Chelsea academy graduate who joined Bayern in 2019.
Even though he was not as well known to the wider public at the time of his move from England, Bayern were hoping they had secured a rare diamond at the time.
And they certainly did. Within a few years, the Stuttgart-born Musiala rose from a promising midfielder to one of Europe’s best playmakers.
Even though he featured for England’s youth national teams until November 2020, he eventually decided to play for Germany, establishing himself as the kingpin of Die Mannschaft alongside Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz.
